Important things when moving out of you rental home

This is the last post in the series about renting in Ireland, at least for some time. 

As I started by moving in, it is right to finish by moving out of your rented home.

One of the most important things that can be quite costly for your deposit, is to leave the apartment as clean as possible. A few days before moving out it is time for a major cleaning. You probably won't be able to clean it in a single day, so plan accordingly. 

Kitchen:

Clean you cooker thoroughly, degrease hobs and oven if necessary. Do the same with a microwave. The fridge should be fully defrosted and cleaned, so make sure you don't have food left.

Clean the drains with the special liquid and clean sinks. As in Ireland kitchen is usually the place where you will find a washing machine, be sure to check and clean filters if possible.

Clean all surfaces and dishes/cups/glasses and shelves in the kitchen. Check that there is no garbage or food left anywhere in the kitchen. Clean the floors as well.

Dining/Livingroom:

Clean tables and all surfaces (usually here are several tables), move sofas so you can clean under it.

Bedroom:

If possible move the bed and clean under it. Clean wardrobe and nightstands.         

Bathroom and toilet:

If you have a shower, clean the cabin glass spotlessly. Clean tiles and floor as well. The same goes for the bathtub. The sink and toilet bowl should be clean as well. It's quite usual practice to put blue tabs in a water reservoir of the toilet and flush it so that water turns blue and stays in this state when you leave. This will probably be the last room to clean as you will probably use it on a day of moving out. 

Other:

Vacuum thoroughly all carpets. It is not a bad idea to clean them with special liquids, even use odor-removing agents. Clean all other floors as well. I'm absolutely sure that the biggest problem to clean will be windows if you are not on the ground floor. Most of the windows in Ireland can be barely opened or you can access only part of the window, no matter what tools you are using. And with the rains and wind blowing dust every day, often no matter how thoroughly you clean it, windows will get dirty the next day as if you didn't clean it. So prepare to be frustrated with it.

Last day:

Finally, on the last day take photos of every single thing in the apartment, just in case a landlord wants to take your deposit for no justified reason, claming that you didn't clean something. Make the list of things you are leaving (like cups, bowls, cutlery, kitchen cloth, toilet paper, etc.) 

Take any garbage that is left. Anything your landlord takes for garbage will be deducted from your deposit.  

Turn all appliances and electricity switch. 

Note final readings for electricity, gas or level of oil.

Be sure you have canceled or transferred your TV license and broadband to the new location. The same goes to any subscription.  

Inform all institutions from Revenue to bank about changing addresses so that you don't get important mail to your old address. 

Don't forget to return all the keys.

Before leaving, be sure that you have reported any possible damage before you moved out and that you have proof of it from the landlord or agent, to avoid any later misunderstandings. 

Did you know? Renting in Ireland

As the majority of people in Ireland, foreigners in particular, are renting their homes from landlords or agencies, it is quite strange that so many people don't know some basic facts about renting.

Did you know:

1. That, if your main income is from social welfare, you have a right for Rent Supplement - money to help you pay private rented accommodation? 

2. That if you are living in Ireland for more than10 years (or prior to 07/12/2010 you may qualify for tax relief on the rent you pay? 

3. That Fully Furnished in Ireland means that you have a sofa or couch and other seating, coffee table/TV table, kitchen/dining table and chairs, beds and mattresses, bedside lockers, large appliances (fridge/freezer, cooker, washing machine), carpets or flooring, window blinds and/or curtains? Now, you also have to have a microwave and often kettle. 

4. That you have Part 4 Rights if you lived in a rental property for 6 months or more? This happens automatically and gives you additional rights as a tenant.  

5. That you can legally terminate a lease if you offer to assign the lease to a new tenant and the landlord refuses to consent? So if you want to move out of a property for any reason (you find better and/or cheaper place to rent) and you find someone to step-in instead of you, you have a right to terminate a lease without consequence even if landlord objects or don't agree. We know the reason why he would not agree with a new person moving in - the greed. If your 12 months of rent ends, a landlord can raise the price of rent to an amount he/she likes (if rent cap is not in order), but if someone new moves in, this may not be the case. 

6. That hanging your pictures on the walls without written consent by a landlord will be taken from your deposit? Also, any cuts or rips on curtains or carpet that you didn't take note when you moved in, will be taken from your deposit, even if a landlord did make them.

7. That reasonable tear and wear depend on the fact are you single or you have kids in the property?

8. That the landlord can increase the rent once in any 12 months period?

9. That all rooms must contain a fixed heating appliance? And that you must be able to control it? It can't be automatic! 

10. That every room must have proper ventilation? 

11. That if you don't have a garden, your washing machine has to have a tumble dryer? 

12. That all habitable rooms must have adequate natural lighting?

13. That you must have access to proper, pest and vermin-proof refuse storage facilities?

14. That you should know the building energy rating (BER)?

These are some of the legal requirements and data so few or people renting knows. Some of them were completely new to me, too.   

    

Moving to new home - part 2

After checking the condition of the property and inventory there are still things to check.

Utility readings

The majority of properties in Ireland use electricity for cooking and heating. If you are lucky, you will have a gas heating and stove, but this is a relative rarity. So things to check and which should be in your tenancy agreement are meter readings of electricity and gas. You should also be aware do you have an electricity meter for night and day tariff or only one. Check that reading on the actual meter are the same as in your tenancy (renting) agreement. Later, when an account of the electric supplier is set in your name, you will have to check if the same numbers are on the online account.

If you use oil for heating, check the level of oil in the tank. You should leave the same amount of oil when you move out.

Keys

Be sure to check all the keys you get. Sometimes you will get one, sometimes two sets of keys. No matter how many keys you got, check them all. Check keys that open your building, check apartment/house key, check post box key (if you have one), and in case that your refuse bins are locked, check that you have a key for that lock as well. Sometimes you will have to pay the deposit for the keys of common refuse if you share it with other tenants in the building. And don't forget to collect that deposit when you leave your home for another one. Don't make the same mistake as I did not check the key and found out that the lock is rusted and can't be opened so you can't reach your refuse bin. And you have to wait for approval by a landlord to have a lock changed. This can take ages and your apartment will be full of garbage. 

Moving into your rented home

When people move to a new rented apartment or house, often they are so happy that they forget to check many important things. 

Let's make a list of things you should check, even if a landlord or his agent has left.

Check the property and inventory

It is a rare case that the landlord will provide you with an inventory list (though by law you should get one). So first check for damage in your new home. Note that for each nail or nail hole in the wall, a landlord has the right to deduct 5 € from your deposit. So take a photo of every nail or nail hole if you want your money back. Also, take photos of cracks, dirty surfaces (windows, walls, carpets) as you should have got your home thoroughly clean (which is rarely the case). So when you are leaving, and the landlord wants to take 70 € for cleaning, you will be able to prove it was the same as you moved in. 

Every piece of furniture that is damaged, you want to have on the photo. Check utilities, like broken shelves in refrigerator, dirty stove or microwave, dirty or damaged washing machine. Check sinks, toilets, bathtubs, cabinets, drawers and make a list with photos of everything that is not in order. If you don't, be sure it will be deducted from your deposit. 

Of course, you won't be able to check if all things work, but you can check toilets and showers while the landlord/agent is present. You can't check the washing machine or oven, or dishwasher (if you are lucky to have one). Often you can't check heating as well, but you should check it as soon as possible, and make notes if it is not working and promptly inform the landlord. 

If any of the appliances are not working after you try it, notify the landlord immediately. Otherwise, this can be reduced from your deposit. And you won't be able to use it until the matter is solved.  

Renting in Ireland

I had the luck to find a great book about renting in Ireland in my local library.

Book is called "Renting in Ireland - The Tenant Survival Guide" and is written by John Leahy. You can check more at www.renting.ie web pages. 

Book nicely guide you through the most important things when renting a home in Ireland. It gives you tips on where to look for a home, on what is important concerning the location of your new home even what is rent supplement and tax relief on Rent payments. Not that the majority can use it, but it is good to know.  

It guides you through a viewing of properties, warns you of possible scams, gives you a checklist of what to inspect in the home, explains that fully furnished is in Ireland, and gives advice for students.

You can also learn about types of tenancy and lease, standard lease clauses, terminations of a lease, and rent a room scheme. One chapter deals with deposits, warning you how to keep/protect your deposit and what can be deducted from your deposit, with insight at wear and tear. 

The additional chapter deals only with students who usually share property, advising what to keep an eye on, to avoid conflicts that can occur when several unknown people share the same property.  

You can also learn about your rights as tenant, repairs, right to privacy, neighbors, and things that are usually rarely allowed by landlords like sub-letting or pets.

John explains standards and safety, which is a very big issue in Ireland, particularly compared with some other countries. He also gives advice about moving out in order to get your full deposit back and finishes with a chapter about disputes with a landlord. I hope you won't need this info, but it is good to know a bit about legal stuff here in Ireland. 

Even if you are tenant for some time in Ireland, this little book can give you some advice about things you were not even aware of.     

Planning Ireland - "I just call to say I love you"

If you are not a turist and like roaming a lot, a minute (or a next day) when you arrive in Ireland, you would like to buy a SIM card. As a VIP user in Croatia, for me it was logical to buy Vodafone (found some action for 35€ per month). But anyway, I decided to contact some of Croatians living for few years in Ireland (Facebook group admins and members) to seek their suggestion. 

It's nice to think how smart you are, but smart people ask for advice. So they suggested 2 other popular communication providers: Three.ie and Meteor.ie. Meteor looked nice because of Unicorn logo, but offer from Three was better. For 20€ (discount from 30€) you can have "Free All You Can Eat Data" (unlimited data), unlimited Any Network texts (SMS), unlimited Any Network weekend calls (not very good, but it is as it goes), free Three to Three calls and free 4G Access (most of the providers charge you for 4G access. In general, it is bit less good than what I've used in Croatia, but minimum salary 3 times bigger in Ireland, prices are at least twice cheaper than in "Out beautiful". 

So, when you chose provider, find closest shop. Mine is some 50 m from B&B I'm staying in, so first thing in the morning is to buy a SIM card. 

If you move from Croatia, be sure to unlock (decode) your smartphone first. Otherwise, you won't be able to use your new SIM card. It is now free of charge if you are mobile subscriber in Croatia (or if you have a bill that you bought your mobile in official store). Count on a fact that it takes up to 15 days to unlock it. You can always unlock/decode your smartphone at service but it will cost you around 20 €. You can do it in the shop or online, and be sure to follow instructions when you put your Irish SIM card. Have in mind that every service provider has some phones already unlocked, so check it first. 

Planing Ireland - "I've been a Wild rover for a many me years"

When you plan your trip, it's good to plan how will you go from Dublin Airport to your accommodation (hostel, motel, B&B, etc.). 

Why? Well, you don't want to be stupid and behave as if in a 20th century. If you can buy transport tickets online you can not only save the money but also avoid spending your cash on a street. 

Good place to look to (if you are living outside The City (read Dublin) is getthere.ie or national.buseireann.ie web pages. I prefer getthere.ie since it gives you all kinds of transportation between cities (bus, train and very importantly lift sharing where you can offer someone a ride or ask someone for a car ride to your destination). Some prices will be visible immediately, but for some you have to visit bus or train web pages where you can buy a ticket. 

To illustrate this a bit. I needed a bus from Dublin Airport to Athlone bus station. Regular cost is 14 €, but with online booking it's 13,30 €. If you become member of Buseireann, you get extra points for each online purchase. If you spend 10 € you get 100 points and if you have 1000 points you can change it for a 10€ ride. So if you travel often to Dublin, every 10th fare is free. When I've joined, there was another surprise - 5€ discount on first travel. So, instead of 14 € in bus, I printed my ticket at home (you can send it to your smartphone as well) and saved 5,7 €. Try to imagine this in Croatia. 

If you are staying in Dublin area, I recommend buying Leap card with which you can use almost all Dublin transport system (bus, tram, city rail - DART) and on average is 20% or more cheaper than buying your ticket on the spot. Also, you can use it in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. 

It has something called capping which is ingenious thing. You can use any combination of Dublin Bus/ Luas/ DART/ Commuter Rail per day for a fix cost of 10€. Knowing that adult ticket for a 4+ stations outside inner Dublin center is about 2,5 €, 1 zone by Luas is 1,8 € and DART 1st distance category is 2,1€ and one plans to visit many possible employers in a day, this card can save you a lot of money (see: www.leapcard.ie). 

There is also visitor card 10€ per day, 20€ for 3 days and 40€ for a week (Monday to Sunday). 

Best thing is you can buy your leap card at the airport T1 (Terminal 1, planes from Croatia) help desk (near exit/entrance to the terminal and close to Dublin Airport Taxis and Bus station (Red 10).

Planning Ireland - "Wherever I lay my hat is my home"

Once you plan your flight, buy your ticket and check in, you have to plan where to stay. 

I've started by looking for a apartments and houses looking at Daft.ie and Rent.ie pages. 

Properties in Ireland are different from ones in Croatia. While in Croatia, when you say 1 room apartment you really have one room, 1 room apartment in Ireland means that you have 1 bedroom plus kitchen plus living room (in many cases as one space). But you'll always have at least one room more than in Croatia. 

Some wise people steered me into looking for 2 bedroom apartment rather than single ones. Why? We'll if you rent a single bedroom apartment you can hardly share it with someone (well, some of people I contacted like to share a 2-person bed (what is in Croatia known as wedding bed) with complete stranger, but I'm not that type). But if you rent 2 bedroom apartment, you can rent a room to someone else (and if they want to share a bed, no problem). So you can divide your rent to 2-3 persons. This is particularly handy if you fail to find a job in a first month and you're running low on money. 

But shouldn't it cost much more to rent? Not at all. Price is in average only 100 € more. And with average price for a rent (outside of Dublin) between 600-900 € it can be a significant thing in planing your life in Ireland.

So first thing I did was to check for apartments and since I chose a smaller town and end of student year, I found that adds for apartments stay online (no rent whatsoever) for a month or more. Nevertheless, since I wanted to be in a contact with my family, my priority were apartments with Internet. Central heating and about D status of energy consumption was also good, with as many house utilities as possible. Cable TV? Well it is just a bonus! 

Then, when I found several apartments I'd really like to live in (checking neighborhood on Google maps is advised), I've contacted sales representatives, stating I'm interested party and try to organize a visit on a second day of arrival. This is good also to show that you are serious and to have a contact in case apartment is rented but new one showed on a grid. 

Also, when I found out my day of departure (planing bus to Zadar, plane to Dublin, bus to Athlone, where I plan to live) I checked with Booking.com (most of travel pages will send you to it), to find B&B or a hostel (I slept in many hostels and I don't like 'em at all, so I avoided it) and book for several nights (if you didn't look for accommodation and did as I with sales representatives). It could take you week or two to find suitable accommodation, and if you don't want to throw your advance (in a first month of rental, except rent money you have to pay the same amount of money as backup option for owner so plan it!) in the wind because you decide to move somewhere else after few weeks in apartment, this is good thing to do. 

So I booked a B&B for several days, arranging to see apartments I like on a first day after arrival (coming to Ireland in the evening), to be sure to rent apartment before I have to leave B&B. If you can, contact other Croatians in town or region to have a contingency plan if you have to move out and could not rent apartment on time because they can maybe help you sleep overnight or for a day or two at their place. During summer is relatively hard to find cheap accommodation in Ireland in a short notice, so plan accordingly. 

Planning Ireland - flying "on the rocky road to Dublin".

When you plan to go to Ireland, date of your departure is very important. Why?

First of all, your plane tickets can vary significantly - in June 2016 only Ryanair tickets vary from 120 € to 260 € (of course, without the cost of luggage). The same is with other low-cost air companies. Luckily, you have direct flights from Zadar to Dublin (Ryanair) or from Dubrovnik to Dublin (Aer Lingus) with a price range from 170 € up to 422 €.
(2017 Update: you have Aer Lingus flights from Pula and Split as well).

If you want to fly from Zagreb, cheapest (but more expensive than low cost) is by Turkish Airlines. But there is a huge glitch - flight takes you some 20+ hours since you first go to Turkey and then to Dublin.
(Update 2017: you can fly from Zagreb to London or Manchester by Monarch (in September 2017 Monarch was in serious problems) as a low-cost company.) 

Many people from Slavonia prefer flying from Budapest, but when you pay average of 60€ for car transport (see Facebook groups about Croats in Ireland, if they are not locked for you), or much more by train/bus (I used to go to Pecs in Hungary and there buy IC train ticket to Keleti and taking shuttle minivans rather than taxi or public transport (I've tried it once, and it is a suicide). This can take you up to a day to reach airport (there are not a lot of buses to Pecs from Osijek, and the last train from Pecs to Keleti is at 1:14 pm). This also involves changing a money to HUF for train and minivan. So having a private driver is ok, but at the end it is not easy to wait and see if car will be available, have enough people to travel etc. and finally, it will cost you more than flying from Zadar. Namely, if you are really lucky you can have a flight from Budapest to Dublin for around 110 € but also for 250 € (very similar to Zadar). 

Ryanair has also a connection from Osijek, Pula, Rijeka to London Stansted Airport, but you'll have to be quick or wait for some time for a flight to Dublin (in the end it can cost you more than to go directly to Dublin). But price starting from only 40 € is appealing, isn't it? And since there are flights to Dublin from 25 to 100 €, this looks quite good. But when you include paying your baggage twice (60-80 €) and all other costs, then this is not so good at all. 

What majority of wannabe air travelers don't know is that low-budget air companies charge you for almost everything: from choosing your seat location, for each part of your luggage, for early access to the plane (to put a cabin luggage you have to pay an extra, since there is a limit to air luggage space, and early bird catches a worm). So when someone tells you that he/she traveled to Dublin for only 40-50 € you know it is a lie. 

My ticket went from 120 € to 180 € with an ease (for example, 15 kg baggage cost 30 € and 20 kg baggage cost 40 € at Ryanair). And if you travel to Ireland for good, surely you'll need 20 kg of baggage. Maybe if you travel to Cuba and bring only T-shirt and swimsuit it would be fine, but since morning temperature on 1st of June were 5-8°C in Ireland, you have to bring autumn/winter clothes even if temperature in Croatia is round 30°C or above. 

One thing you have to be wary is size of your luggage and weight. Every kilo more cost at least 10 € (up to 50€). And, since I'm flying with Ryanair, there is limitation to 32 kg in total. So choose wisely what to bring and weight it carefully. 

Size of luggage is all different story. Ryanair states that it should not be about 80 (height), 110 (length) and 110 cm (width). This is totally confusing since luggage height is usually the longest while width is smallest. And if you want to get info from them, simply forget it. You'll receive links to pages or rules stating what you already know. And if your luggage is above this dimensions, you won't be able to board it into the plane. 

Then, you can buy a cabin baggage priority (allowing you to put your luggage before less fortunate -read: more miserly passenger) and this cabin luggage is free of charge. But if your don't pay it, and there is no space for your cabin baggage, it has to go to cargo hold and you'll be charged for it). Cabin luggage has very strict rules and size must be below 55x40x20 cm. Luckily, one can buy declared cabin baggage in Croatia without problem, and there is always possibility to buy Ryanair approved cabin baggage at the airport. 

Croatia to Ireland - "So why did you abandon it, the reason to me tell."

When you live in absurd country in EU and speak English fluently, sooner or later (unfortunately) you are compelled to go to find a job, or preferably career in Ireland.

Knowing how many Polish people moved to Ireland, and Poland is one of few EU countries that never felt economic crisis, no wonder that so many EU citizens in countries that were devastated by 2008 crisis want to come to Ireland.

As I always had a green heart and fell in love with Irish traditional music 28 years ago, when I lost a job and was forced to close my private trade, moving to Ireland become a reality. 

It is not easy to leave a wife and two little kids behind, but with a prospect that they will have to live on the street because you cannot find a job and don't have a money for paying a rent, all that has left for me to do was a huge leap of faith.

Luckily, since there are some 10-20.000 people from Croatia living in Ireland (with hundreds leaving every couple of weeks), finding a helping hand and information was not too hard. 

Of course, typical for Croats, some formed closed groups on Facebook not to mingle with "ordinary" still in Croatia but "elite" already in Ireland. Such behavior just made me sick, since all my life I was helping others no matter of gender or nationality and it is still a line of my heart and soul. 

Pretending to be a "nobility" while you are just a simple yokel or hick and with a mentality that will always stay on Balkans level and never transcend above it, is actually something pitiful rather than something to hate.

So, knowing how it all started, let's move on.

As advice should be a child of experience, I won't give you advice, but rather tell you my story and all I did to go to Ireland.